Manchester United to make 250 staff members redundant

Manchester United today told staff that the club is intending to cut 250 jobs as new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe continues his bid to slash costs at Old Trafford.

Interim chief executive Jean-Claude Blanc informed staff on Wednesday lunchtime that the club intends to make a wave of redundancies, with new co-owner INEOS pursuing a series of cost-cutting measures recommended by consultancy firm Interpath Advisory, who have been hired to review the club’s business and operational outgoings.

The Athletic understands the aim is to make the cuts before the start of the season.

All department and levels within the club will be impacted and the club says it will not include staff at their charitable arm, the Manchester United Foundation.

Club accounts for the year ended June 30, 2023, showed United’s monthly employees had to risen an average of 1,112, up from 1,035 in 2022 and 983 in 2021.

The Athletic revealed in May that United’s non-football staff — personnel who are scouts or on the playing staff — had essentially been offered voluntary redundancy.

The offer — valid until June 5 — was made to workers at the Old Trafford stadium, United’s Carrington training base on the south west outskirts of Manchester and the club’s central London office. The offer, which would have seen staff receive their annual bonuses if they agreed to walk away, had very low take-up.

The Glazer family, who remain the majority shareholders of United, appear to have essentially outsourced control of the club’s business and football operations to INEOS and are not opposing the sweeping changes to the way in which the Americans previously ran the club.

It is a signal of the confidence they have in Ratcliffe and his leadership team — including Sir Dave Brailsford, former head of Great Britain’s cycling team.

In a club all-hands meeting at the beginning of May, Ratcliffe informed staff that they could no longer work from home and ordered them back to the office, starting from June 1.

INEOS has a history of reviewing the revenues and costs after buying a business. INEOS have already removed club credit cards from a number of senior staff and insisted that staff contribute to the travel in order to attend the FA Cup final in May, although the new investors did at least retain a scheme that entitled staff to complimentary tickets.

The INEOS revolution has seen vast change at Old Trafford, as the club’s previous chief executive Richard Arnold, interim CEO Patrick Stewart, football director John Murtough, chief financial officer Cliff Baty, communications chief Ellie Norman have all departed the club in recent times.

This week The Athletic reported that the club’s sponsorship lead Victoria Timpson — fresh from securing a $75m per year deal with new front of shirt sponsor Snapdragon — will also be leaving within three months.

Elsewhere, United are pushing ahead with their revamp of the club’s footballing structure with confirmation this week that a deal had been agreed with Newcastle United to appoint Dan Ashworth as director of football. Erik ten Hag has been retained as manager after a lengthy review of his position in which United explored alternative candidates.

Ashworth is set to have overall responsibility for football performance, recruitment at Old Trafford, with technical director Jason Wilcox reporting to him. Ashworth will report into Omar Berrada, who is scheduled to arrive as chief executive from Manchester City later this month.

Former football director John Murtough stepped down in April after a decade’s service, paving the way for Ashworth’s appointment.

What power does INEOS have over how Manchester United are run?

Initially, the plan was for INEOS to run only United’s football operations, but it has extended its influence to the business side, most notably appointing Blanc as interim CEO until former Manchester City chief football officer Berrada, an INEOS hire, takes over in mid-July.

The decision to effectively offer staff voluntary redundancy is being described by sources briefed on the matter, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, as a ‘management decision’ and has been agreed across both ownership groups, meaning the Glazer family — who remain in overall control of the club — also signed off on it.

The Glazers being relaxed about INEOS making sweeping changes is noted as a reflection of the confidence they have in Ratcliffe and his leadership team, including Blanc and Sir Dave Brailsford, former head of the hugely successful Team GB cycling operation.

Because it is a policy change, it would have been shared across the leaders of the football club but it was not something that needed board approval to be implemented.

Why has INEOS taken this step?

It is no secret INEOS believes United have too many employees and that the workforce is bloated compared to other English clubs.

After its minority investment was ratified in February, the company hired consultancy firm Interpath Advisory to review the business and operational costs all across the club.

The hope is that by streamlining the 1,000-plus workforce, United will make savings. This, in turn, can help them better comply with the financial regulations of both the Premier League and UEFA, European football’s governing body. To know how much they can spend on signing players, they need to look at the costs associated with the club and work out where money is being spent.

INEOS’ internal review process started as soon as its minority investment was ratified but Ratcliffe, Brailsford and other INEOS staff had already had plenty of time to think about what they could do to improve not just the playing side of things at United but also the operation departments.

INEOS has a history of reviewing the revenues and costs after buying a business, and looking at how it can boost the former and better manage the latter.

How do United compare to other clubs?

Liverpool’s accounts for the year ended June 30, 2023 say they have 1,008 employees, which is up by three on 2022. Of those, 701 are categorised as working in ‘administration, commercial and other’, with another 238 being players, managers and coaches.

Arsenal’s filing for the year ended May 31, 2023 details that the monthly average number of people they employed was 689, with 163 of those being noted as playing and training staff. This average monthly figure is up from 595 in 2022.

At the other end of the Premier League, and to highlight the size of United’s operation, for the year ended June 30, 2023 Brentford had a monthly average of 243 employees, which includes the players and training staff (129), and is up from 190 in the previous financial year.

Manchester City, the now four-times-in-a-row Premier League winners, had an average of 520 employees — including players and football staff (201) — in the year ended June 30, 2023, which is less than half of United’s 1,112 and is down from 549 in the previous year.

City are, however, part of a multi-club umbrella organisation, City Football Group, which has additional personnel.

By Dan Sheldon

GO DEEPER

Explained: INEOS’ bid to cut non-football staff at Manchester United

(Marc Atkins/Getty Images)